Golden Lane Estate
Cullum Welch House
Sir Cullum Welch was Lord Mayor in 1951, so presumably this house was named after him.
Cullum Welch House is a terrace block. One end adjoins Crescent House; the other is separated from Great Arthur House by the way through to the inner parts of the estate.
The flats run right through the building from front to back, and they face south at the front and north at the back. There are [ ] flats over six storeys, and each flat is on one floor only. At the front, the flats have a view over the main court and the Barbican beyond.
From a distance the building appears to rise straight out of the court facing Fann Street. But as you get closer you see that there are broad steps – the width of the frontage of the building – which take you down, under the building through broad arches, and then out to a lower court which contains the tennis court.
In each of the arches under Cullum Welch house are a series of storage units for the flats, all with blue wooden doors.
The frontage of the building is made up of the main structural piers and built-in concrete window boxes and pot holders. The front windows of the flats themselves are then set back a couple of feet providing a small terrace. The pot holders have different sized round holes drilled into them to accommodate different size pots. The window boxes and pot holder operates as safety bars, because the windows can be slid open.
At the back, Cullum Welch House flats have distinctive balconies which are like picket fences, but made in concrete. It also has a distinctive external staircase at the Great Arthur House end.
